Just the Same, but Different
February 3, 2009 Once upon a time at another publication, a friend wrote the headline above and it stuck with me over the years. I am taking this opportunity to steal it and use it again.
In mid June at Cotton Incorporated’s 21st Annual Engineered Fiber Selection Conference in Memphis, economic data on the new on-board, module building pickers from Case IH and John Deere was presented.
We know what is the same about the Case IH Module Express 625 and the John Deere 7760: they are engineering marvels and they build modules on the go, giving them the potential to replace module builders, boll buggies, the tractors that pull them and the labor it takes to operate all of them.
What’s different is everything else: the Case 625 builds modules about half the size of a traditional module; the Deere 7760 builds round, plastic-wrapped modules. The Case picker has to stop and dump modules; the Deere dumps without stopping. Case modules have to be tarped; Deere modules do not, but there is the added expense of the wrap. The Case modules have the perception of being more ginner friendly because, as mentioned, they are very similar to modules that gins are already efficiently ginning; the Deere modules have the perception of being less ginner friendly because the modules require a separate piece of equipment to remove the wrap. The Case picker has had the most immediate impact because it became commercially available this year; the Deere picker is not commercially available, and Deere has not said publicly when it will be.
But what both models give growers, besides the very obvious increase in harvest efficiency, is a very distinct choice. If you are a grower, ask yourself which system fits your operation best. The good news is that the choice is yours alone.
It’s with a great deal of pleasure that I welcome Beck Barnes to our staff. He is an Ole Miss graduate with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in English.
Beck grew up near Leland, MS, and has some pretty significant ties to the cotton industry. For those of you who understand the dynamics of the Mississippi Delta, you know what I mean when I say that it is a community rather than a scattering of small towns. Everyone knows everybody, and Beck is most definitely a part of that.
Welcome aboard, Beck.
Photo (Beck Barnes)
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
